Belt-shifter.



No. 834,532] PATENTED 001". so, 1906. I. s; NEWTON.

BELT SHIFTER. APPLICATION FILED IEB.6, 1906.

I'IIIIIIIIIIIIII'IIA I WITJVESSES/ UNITED STATES ISAAC S. NEWTON, OFSYRACUSE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF PATENT, OFFICE.

TO FRANK A. CARLTON AND ONEHALF TO HUGH MoVEY, OF SYRA- OUSE. NEW YORK.

BELT-SHIFTER.

ticularly to the class set forth in my Patent No. 799,663, datedSeptember 19, 1905, in

which a belt is shifted from a revolving pu.l ley onto a stationarysupport carrying a series of rollers concentric with the axis of thepulley, so as to hold the belt at rest when not in use;

My present invention is an improvement upon v e belt-shifting bolt andits actuating means and guides, the object of which is to control theoperation and locking of the sliding bolt by means of a singlehandpiece, which in this instance consists of a vertical rock-shaftprovided with a handpiece and a crank-arm in operative connection withthe sliding bolt to move I the latter endwise through a distancesubstantially equal to the width of the belt.

As stated in my patent above referred to, one of the essential objectsof my present invention is to bring all of the mechanism, including afixed hanger, as closel as possible within the shifting-s ace of theelt, so as to allow the pulleys to e arranged on the shaft as closetogether as may be practicable and still leave ample clearance for theoperation of the shifting mechanism without interference with any of thebelts.

In In present invention I have sought to locate t e rock-shaft whichoperates the sliding bolt directly under the rollers on the fixed hangerand between theopposite trav eling sides of the belt when shifted to therollers, because then the belt is at rest and the operator may withperfect safety engage and operate the rock-shaft to shift the belt fromthe rollers onto the pulley, it being apparent that when the belt is onthe rollers it is at rest, and by the time it acquires motion from thepulley the operating rock-shaft is more readily accessible and out ofthe way of the moving belt.

It is also obvious that when it is desired to shift the belt from thepulley onto the rollers Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 6, 1906. Serial No- 299,685.

Patented Oct. 30, 1906.

of the fixed hanger the handpiece of the roller is readily accessible,and by the time the belt has been shifted onto the rollers sufficient totravel in the plane of the rock-shaft it has practically ceased moving.

A further object of my invention is to provide a simple means forautomatically looking the shifting bolt in either of its extremepositions, whereby the belt is positively held upon the pjulley or uponthe rollers, as the case may e.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improvedbelt-shifter, showing the roller-hanger, belt, and pulle Fig. 2 is anend view of the hanger an my improved belt-shifter mounted thereon, partof the shifting mechanism being shown in section. Fig. 3 is a sectionalview through the slidingbolt guide and adjacent portion of the hanger,showing the means for shifting the sliding bolt.

In demonstrating the practicability of my invention I have shown a shaft1 as provided with a ulley 2, receiving a belt-3, which. is adapted tobe shifted u on the rollers, as 4, of a vertically-adjustable anger 5.

The means for shifting the belt preferably consists of a sliding bolt 6,movable in a tubular guide 7 and actuated back and forth by means of acrank-arm 8 and a vertical rockshaft 9, to which the crank-arm 8 issecured.

The hanger 5 preferably consists of a. malleable iron plate, the greaterportion of which is concentric with and located above the axis of theshaft 1 and has one side extended downwardly some distance belowthe'adjacent side of the pulley for receiving and supporting the tubularguide 7 between the face of the pulley and belt, as best seen in Fig. 2.This hanger 5 is made as light as may be consistent with the strengthrequired and is in this, instance reinforced by ribs 10 to resistcompression strains. The hanger 5 is provided with a series of studs orbearings 11, upon which the rollers 4 are journaled, said studsconsisting in this instance of shoulder? screws which are screwed intothreaded apertures in the plate 5 and are provided with headscountersunk into the inner ends of the rollers 4 and serve to retain therollers in operative position upon their respective studs.

The rollers 4 are of substantially the same length as the width of thebelt 3, and have their ends adjacent to the pulley in close proximitythereto, so as to allow the belt to be easily shifted back and forthfrom the pulley to the rollers, and-vice versa, without liability vofbeing caught in between the end of the pulley and adjacent ends of therollers.

The studs 11 and rollers which are mounted thereon are arrangedconcentrically around the axis of the shaft 1 through substantially onehundred and eighty degrees, depending upon the inclination of the sidesof the belt, and are preferably arranged as close together as possible,so as to hold the lapping portion of the belt substantially parallelwith the face of the pulley.

The guide 7 for the sliding bolt 6 preferably consists of a tubethreaded at one end and screwed into a threaded aperture in the lowerend of one side of the plate 5, the threaded portion of the tube beingengaged by suitable lock-nuts 12 to firmly hold it in operativeposition. This tubular guide 7 projects across the face of the pulley 2between it and one side of the belt a distance substantially equal tothe combined width of the pulley and length of the rollers 4, or, inother words, subtantially twice the width of the belt, and is providedwith lengthwise slots 13 and 14.

The bolt 6 is provided with a pair of beltengaging arms 15, whichproject through the slot 13 and engage opposite edges of the belt, andis also provided with a stud or arm 16, projecting downwardly throughthe slot 14.

The length of the slot 13 is substantially equal to twice the width ofthe belt, or coextensive with the width of the pulley and length of therollers 4 but the slot 14 is com paratively short, or in this instanceequal to substantially half the length of the slot 13, to permit thebolt 6 to slide endwise a suflicient distance to shift the belt from thepulley 2 onto the rollers 4, and vice versa.

The rock-shaft 9 is journaled in one end of a fixed supporting-stud 17,having its other end threaded and screwed into a threaded aperture inthe plate 5, just back of the tubular guide 7, as best seen in Fig. 3,the upper end of the rock-shaft 9 being angular in crosssection andfitting snugly within a similarlyformed aperture in the end of thecrank-arm 8, so as to allow the shaft and crank-arm to rotate together.

The remaining portion of the rod, and especially that journaled in thebearing18 of the support 17, is round and forms a shoulder 19 at thebase of the angular portion upon which the adjacent end of the crank-armrests and is held in place by a suitable nut 20 on the extreme upper endof the rock-shaft 9 to clamp the arm 8 against the shoulder 19. Thisrock-shaft 9 extends downwardly a sufficient distance to bring itshandpiece, as 21, within easy reaching distance of the operator standingup on the floor and is movable vertically a limited distance, determinedby a shoulder 22 thereon, which is adapted to engage the under side ofthe bearing 18.

The supporting-arm 17 for the rock-shaft 9 and its crank-arm 8 isprovided with a raised projection 23, and the adjacent end of thecrank-arm 8 is formed with a rearward projection 24, in the path of andadapted to engage the opposite faces of the shoulder 23 when thecrank-arm is rocked to either of its extreme positions for shifting andholding the belt onto the pulley 2 or rollers 4.

I have described that the crank-arm 8 is rigidly secured to therock-shaft 9, and the shoulder 22 is located a suflicient distance belowthe lower end of the bearing 18 to allow said rock-shaft to be elevatedsufficiently to bring the fin or shoulder 24 in a plane above theshoulder 23, whereupon the rock-shaft and its crank-arm 8 may be rotatedin the bearing 18 to move the sliding bolt 6 endwise a suflicientdistance to shift the belt to and from the pulley and rollers, and whenmoved to either extremes the upward pressure on the rock-shaft isrelieved, allowing said shaft and its crank-arm to descend by gravity,thereby interlocking the shoulder 24 with one side or the other of theshoulder 23 and holding the sliding bolt 6 and belt in their adjustedpositions.

What I claim is- In combination with a pulley and belt, a fixed hangerhaving a series of axially-projecting rollers concentric with the axisof the pulley for receiving the belt, a tubular guide having one endsecured to the hanger and its other end projecting between the belt andpulley, a sliding bolt movable in said guide and provided withbelt-engaging fingers, a crank arm operatively connected to the bolt toshift the same endwise from one extreme to the other, a rock-shaft andbearing therefor, said rock-shaft being movable vertically and securedto the crank-arm, there being a shoulder on the bearing for therockshaft and a shoulder on the crank-arm ad apted to engage theopposite sides of the firstnamed shoulder as the crank-arm is rocked toeither of its extreme positions to lock said crank-arm and bolt in theiradjusted posi tions.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 26th day of January,1906.

ISAAC S. NEWTON.

Witnesses H. E. CHASE, M. M. Noun.

